The IDF on Saturday evening cleared for publication that Staff Sgt. Nir Ben Ari, 21, from Kerem Maharal, was killed overnight in southern Lebanon by Hezbollah rocket fire and explosive drones. Ben Ari served as a combat soldier and company quartermaster in the Magen unit of the Commando Brigade, and was due to begin his discharge leave at the end of the month. The strike hit the Tebnit area around 1:30 a.m., killing him and wounding 13 other fighters, one of them seriously.
Ben Ari would have turned 22 in nine days. He grew up in Kerem Maharal, studied at Omer School and Kfar Galim High School, and completed five-unit tracks in English, mathematics and physics. Before army service, he spent a year at the Jerusalem pre-army academy. His family said he “loved life, family and friends,” described him as always smiling and always surrounded by friends, and said he had already booked an April motorcycle test and a flight to Thailand for mid-August. Family friend Nir Baruch said that only the day before, Ben Ari had been at home but chose to return to his comrades and enter Lebanon.
The family was informed at 7:00 a.m., when Ben Ari’s father, Yaron, initially thought his son had come home. Asif Isaac, head of the Hof HaCarmel Regional Council, called him “salt of the earth” and said his life and ambitions were cut short. Kfar Galim principal Alfa Weinberger said Ben Ari graduated in 2022 and studied biology and physics, adding that the school community has now suffered a second painful loss after Staff Sgt. Noam Hamburger was killed there last month by an explosive drone in southern Lebanon.
The IDF also announced the death of Staff Sgt. Yoav Klein, 21, from Herzliya, a tank soldier in Battalion 52, who was killed in the battalion commander’s tank disaster overnight between Thursday and Friday. Klein died alongside battalion commander Lt. Col. Dor Ben Shimon and two other soldiers whose names have not yet been released. The tank team was taking part in an operation to seize a fortified Hezbollah compound in the Ali Taher ridge area, and the army said it now has operational control of the site, which it described as one of Hezbollah’s key strongholds in southern Lebanon, with dozens of militants trapped inside.
The incident took place near Tebnit, close to Nabatieh, around 12:20 a.m. A suspicious object struck the tank of Battalion 52 forces operating under the Givati Brigade combat team. The IDF said it has not yet determined exactly what hit the tank, but ruled out an accident or malfunction and assessed it was an external strike, likely an explosive drone or an anti-tank missile. Initial suspicion of a mine was later discounted, and the possibility of an advanced anti-tank missile was partly ruled out. One option still examined was an explosive drone fitted with a missile warhead capable of penetrating the tank.
